Church of the New Dawn
The Church of the New Dawn '''is an Earth-based religious group formed shortly after the Twilight War. While ostensibly a charitable group devoted to the message of human-alien cohabitation, in reality, the Church is a radical doomsday cult worshiping the Old Ones and prophesying their return. The Church evolved from the ideals of the '''Flame Keeper's Circle, a cult worshiping the Old One known as Dagon. The Church maintains its public image through the Cygnus Foundation, a charity group that provides shelter and aid to alien refugees. History Flame Keeper's Circle In 1131 CE, the Old One known as Dagon attempted to invade the Milky Way Galaxy via an interdimensional portal located on Earth. Dagon used his powers to seize control of the minds of locals, turning them into its slaves. Dagon was ultimately vanquished by Sir George, who used the sword Ascalon to seal it out of the universe. George went on to form the Forever Knights, a sect devoted to expunging aliens from the Earth. Meanwhile, the individuals who had been under Dagon's influence formed their own secretive cult worshiping it, which would one day come to be known as the Flame Keeper's Circle. By the 21st century, the Circle had begun to rise in public prominence, becoming a relatively popular religious group promoting the exploration of the larger universe and human communication with aliens. At this time, the Circle stumbled across Vilgax, mistaking him for Dagon, and began to worship him. Events were set in motion leading to Dagon's return, and after Vilgax was exposed, the Circle and their elite soldiers, the Esoterica, began preparations for Dagon's final onslaught. In late 2011, the Battle of a Hundred Lifetimes occurred between the Forever Knights and the Esoterica, resulting in the destruction of both groups. With Dagon defeated and sealed away, the records of the Circle's existence mysteriously vanished. Church of the New Dawn In 2019, the Old Ones, the pantheon of nigh-omnipotent demons which Dagon originated from, attempted to invade the Milky Way Galaxy. Though they were defeated, their attack devastated most of the galaxy and left the Plumbers in ruin. An unknown individual took this as a divine sign, and came to believe that the Old Ones would attempt to invade the universe a second time. This individual formed a new, secretive religious group based on the ideals of the Flame Keeper's Circle, which came to be known as the Church of the New Dawn. On the outside, New Dawn advocated for human-alien coexistence and acceptance in an era of hatred and distrust caused by the Homeworld movement, which gained them many followers. In secret, however, the Church's leaders preached the return of the Old Ones and the "cleansing" of the universe, including Earth, and that only those who embraced the Old Ones would be granted salvation. New Dawn kept its more radical beliefs private to only fully devoted members, and maintained its public image through the Church's charity organization, the Cygnus Foundation, which provided shelter and aid to alien refugees suffering due to Homeworld movement legislation. Trivia * The Church of the New Dawn is named after an eponymous cult from the video game Watch Dogs 2. It is also an allusion to Far Cry: New Dawn, a post-apocalyptic video game. Category:Groups Category:Villains